Hello all. The state of our country (USA) and the world at large has been on my mind lately, as on all our minds I'm sure.
What do you think? How are you preparing and yet going on living? How do you manage your fears? Or do you worry at all?

I think we in the US have been so fortunate to not have had to experience what so many in the rest of the world have lived with on a daily basis. I find myself wondering what kind of world my children will have when they are old. I wonder if it is "safe" or wise to have more children in these times.

I'm not so interested in a debate about whether we should go to war as I am in how we are to live regardless of this specific action. The world is changing before our eyes. This affects me deeply as a mom. I don't want my children to be unsafe, to suffer, or see me suffer and be traumatized.

I am a person of faith, and yet I struggle sometimes in trusting. My faith has been candy-coated by the illusion of immunity from suffering on a global scale. Why should I expect God to keep me and mine safe from all suffering when I look at the rest of the world?

I want the courage of a lion, but the innocence of a lamb.

Does that make sense? What are your thoughts, Mamas? Those who believe in God, how is your faith strengthened? Or do you think this war thing is a lot of fuss over nothing?

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 I was a lot more "spiritually" freaked, due to the fact that it's all ... consistent, is the only word I can think of, with the description in the Zohar (the central Jewish mystical work of Kabbalah), and in that description it doesn't look to cheerful in the world for a while.

The physical fear ... well, synagogues had security before due to threats, just not so intense as since 9/11. And jerks making comments on the street/inthe subway were there before, too. Maybe it's just that people are so on edge now, I worry that they're more likely to act on their irrationality now, rather than just hurling verbal nastiness.

But I have been making extra efforts spiritually, to connect my children and me in an even stronger way with nonviolent responses to anything and everything, from spiders to little sisters to losing in Candyland. Every act has spiritual/energy repercussions, and if the energy waves we put out are gentle and peaceful ...